Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor sat down for a unique breakfast Monday morning. Besides the coffee and buffet, his table was surrounded by reporters hoping to get some insight into the team’s future plans this offseason.
The sight of microphones and tape recorders stacked as close to head coaches as possible is an annual tradition during the NFL League Meetings taking place in Palm Beach, Florida this year.
Taylor, who enters his seventh year as the Bengals head coach, did not get off to a slow start Monday as his media availability was scheduled for early in the morning. Though, his team has suffered slow starts in recent years.
Last season, the Bengals dropped its home opener against the New England Patriots 16-10 in Week 1. After two more losses to the Kansas City Chiefs and the Washington Commanders, Cincinnati won its first game of 2024 in Carolina with a 34-24 victory over the Panthers.
Cincinnati went 1-4 in the first five weeks of 2024, where all four loses occurred in one-score games. The Bengals missed the playoffs despite winning the last five games of the season.
Cincinnati began the 2023 season with a 1-2 record in the month of September, losing its firs two games. In 2022, the Bengals also lost the first two games of the season. Though, Joe Burrow, who had more than 200 passing yards in each game that year, did lead the Bengals to the AFC Championship game.
The only time Burrow and the Bengals achieved a winning record in September came during the 2021 season when the Bengals went 3-1 in their first four games. Cincinnati lost to the Los Angels Rams in the Super Bowl that season.
Taylor’s Plan For Hot Start In 2025
At Monday’s press availability, Bengals.com senior writer Geoff Hobson wrote that Taylor “plans to play more of his regulars in the preseason games, as well as ramp up the spring with more team bonding and playbook work” in hopes of getting off to a better start in 2025.
During last preseason, Bengals starters only played in the first game. Hobson wrote that Taylor is “looking to implement a training camp intensity to the Xs and Os of the spring”.
Hobson did note that Bengals players were separated in different spaces last offseason due to a locker room upgrade.
“I’m excited to have everybody in the same locker room, everyone gets a chance to really know these free agents and rookies and build that bond,” Taylor said in Hobson’s article. “I don’t think we’ve had bad team cohesiveness, but I just want more of it”.
Despite a ‘new look’ offseason program in Cincinnati, Hobson said that Taylor does not want to “beat up” his players with “excessive ones vs. ones team drills.”
All Eyes On The Draft
Now that the Bengals have secured multi-year contract deals with star receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, the attention has turned to the future of Trey Hendrickson.
The 2024 NFL sack leader received permission to seek a trade last month, but Hobson wrote that it sounds like the team would like to work something out with their star defensive player.
On the other side of the ball, the Bengals signed veteran offensive guard Lucas Patrick last week. Hobson wrote that Taylor said the team will “hold off on singing any more until after the draft where they’re expected to take at least one [guard]”.
James Rapien, the publisher of Bengals On SI, released his first mock draft Monday where he predicted all six of Cincinnati’s draft picks. Of the six selections, Rapien has four defensive players joining the team.
With the No. 17 overall pick, Rapien selected Ole Miss defensive tackle Walter Nolen. “Nolen will give the Bengals a quality interior rusher that is already good against the run and should be able to give them some real juice right away as a rookie,” he wrote.
The Bengals will make one selection in each of the first six rounds of this month’s draft, barring any trades of course.
Rapien believes Cincinnati will select that offensive guard in the second round, predicting Tyler Booker of Alabama to wind up with the Bengals with the No. 49 overall pick.
Back to the defensive side of the ball, as Rapien has safety Andrew Mukuba of Texas going to the Bengals in the third round, and defensive tackle Ashton Gillotte of Louisville in the fourth.
The final offensive selection in Rapien’s mock draft happens in the fifth round, with running back Jaydon Blue of Texas landing with Cincinnati. With the No. 193 overall pick in the sixth round, Rapien selected linebacker Jay Higgins of Iowa.
The NFL draft gets underway on April 24.
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